essay about india's rise as global space power

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Analysis and Space

How india has slowly but surely become a major player in space.

India’s space agency has been remarkably successful in recent years, growing the country’s prestige on the global stage – and the 2024 election is unlikely to change that

By Leah Crane

30 April 2024

India launched Chandrayaan-3 to the moon last year

If India seems like a latecomer to space flight, it is only because the country’s space agency has been slowly and steadily growing for decades, catching up with the original major players. When the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft managed the first ever soft landing near the south pole of the moon in 2023, it marked a triumph for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a sign that the agency’s unique way of operating makes it capable of great things.

Can India build a world-leading computer chip industry from scratch?

The strategy that has made all of this work was championed in the 1960s by Vikram Sarabhai, often considered the father of the Indian space programme. He rejected the idea that the country had to work its way up through every stage of learning how to do space flight , instead insisting on “leapfrogging”, using knowledge that had already been gained by other nations along with expertise developed at home.

“What you’re seeing now is the product of four decades of serious investment in this programme that a lot of people dismissed as being inappropriate for a developing country, but turns out to have been a smart decision all along,” says Itty Abraham at Arizona State University. “It’s done a great job of absorbing technologies from different countries and stitching them together to make something that’s uniquely Indian.”

Why it's a big deal that India beat Russia in the new race to the moon

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a perfect example of this. ISRO has stated that the budget for the mission was only £60 million ($74 million), less than the cost of a commercial aeroplane and an astonishingly low price tag for a spacecraft. This was enabled in part by the use of more cost-effective off-the-shelf parts alongside custom-built ones, as well as contracts with private companies for some of the spacecraft development and manufacturing.

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That private company involvement is relatively new for ISRO, a change heralded by Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister since 2014. “Where Modi has made a difference is that he has encouraged the private sector to step in in a way that is very unusual for Indian government programmes,” says Abraham. “If you look at the other government projects, the private sector is there but in a very small way.” ISRO didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But more broadly, India’s election is unlikely to change ISRO’s direction, given the geopolitical prestige that comes with success in space. “The space programme has managed to remain independent for so long because it’s been successful,” says Abraham. “In this case, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge – they’re all going to throw money at it.”

This article is part of a special series on India’s election.

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India Successfully Lands Spacecraft on Moon’s Surface

The control room at the indian space research organization erupted in cheers when the chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the southern polar region of the moon..

The altitude is being brought down from 800 meters. And we are nearing and approaching the lunar surface. He hung up a painting for the exact day. He the. People are applauding. From the Secretary department of space and chairman isro Somnath. I’m confident. That all countries in the world. Including those from the Global South. Are capable of achieving such feats. We can all aspire. Part of the moon and beyond.

Hari Kumar Alex Travelli Mujib Mashal and Kenneth Chang

Hari Kumar and Alex Travelli reported from Bengaluru, India, near the Chandrayaan-3 mission control.

What to know about India’s next chapter in space.

Two visitors from India — a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan — landed in the southern polar region of the moon on Wednesday. The two robots, from a mission named Chandrayaan-3, make India the first country to ever reach this part of the lunar surface in one piece — and only the fourth country ever to land on the moon.

“We have achieved soft landing on the moon,” S. Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, said after a roar ripped through the ISRO compound just past 6 p.m. local time. “India is on the moon.”

The Indian public already takes great pride in the accomplishments of the nation’s space program, which has orbited the moon and Mars and routinely launches satellites above the Earth with far fewer financial resources than other space-faring nations.

But the achievement of Chandrayaan-3 may be even sweeter, as it comes at a particularly important moment in the South Asian giant’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise.

Indian officials have been advocating in favor of a multipolar world order in which New Delhi is seen as indispensable to global solutions. In space exploration, as in many other fields, the message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been clear: The world will be a fairer place if India takes on a leadership role, even as the world’s most populous nation works to meet its people’s basic needs.

That assertiveness on the world stage is a central campaign message for Mr. Modi, who is up for re-election to a third term early next year. He has frequently fused his image with that of India’s rise as an economic, diplomatic and technological power.

Mr. Modi has been physically present at mission control for other recent moments in India’s space history, including during a successful orbit of Mars in 2014 and a failed moon landing in 2019 where he was seen consoling the scientists and hugging the chief of ISRO, who was weeping.

But the Chandrayaan-3 landing coincided with his trip to South Africa for a meeting of the group of nations known as BRICS . Mr. Modi’s face beamed into the control room in Bengaluru during the landing’s final minutes, where he was split-screen with the animation of the lander.

“Chandrayaan-3’s triumph mirrors the aspirations and capabilities of 1.4 billion Indians,” Mr. Modi said when the landing was complete, declaring the event as “the moment for new, developing India.”

In a country with a deep tradition of science, the excitement and anticipation around the landing provided a rare moment of unity in what has otherwise been fraught times of sectarian tension stoked by divisive policies of Mr. Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party.

Prayers were offered for the mission’s success at Hindu temples, Sikh Gurdwaras and Muslim mosques. Schools held special ceremonies and organized live viewings of the moon landing, with an official YouTube video of the event racking up tens of millions of views. The police band in the city of Mumbai, India’s commercial and entertainment hub, sent a “special musical tribute” to the scientists, performing a popular patriotic song.

“There is full faith,” the song, in Hindi, says. “We will succeed.”

The Indian mission launched in July, taking a slow, fuel-conscious route toward the moon. But Chandrayaan-3 out-endured its Russian counterpart, Luna-25, which launched 12 days ago. Luna-25 was scheduled to land on the moon on Monday in the same general vicinity as the Indian craft but crashed on Saturday following an engine malfunction.

That India managed to outdo Russia, which as the Soviet Union put the first satellite, man and woman in space, speaks to the diverging fortunes of the two nations’ space programs.

Much of India’s foreign policy in recent decades has been shaped by a delicate balancing act between Washington and Moscow, but the country is grappling more with an increasingly aggressive China at its borders. The two countries’ militaries have been stuck in a standoff in the Himalayas for three years now, and the vulnerability to a threat from China is a major driving factor in India’s calculations.

A shared frustration with Beijing has only increased U.S. and Indian cooperation , including in space, where China is establishing itself in direct competition with the United States.

And with the success of Chandrayaan-3, Mr. Modi can reap benefits in leaning into India’s scientific prowess to “more confidently assert Indian national interest on the world stage,” said Bharat Karnad, an emeritus professor of national security studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

The control room in Bengaluru became a joyous scene among the engineers, scientists and technicians of the Indian Space Research Organization.

Speaking after the landing, members of the ISRO leadership who managed Chandrayaan-3 made clear that the failure of their last moon landing attempt, in 2019, was a major driving force behind their work.

“From the day we started rebuilding our spacecraft after Chandaryaan-2 experience, it has been breathe in, breathe out Chandrayaan-3 for our team,” said Kalpana Kalahasti, the mission’s associate project director.

Chandrayaan-3 has been orbiting the moon since early August. On Sunday, an engine burn pushed the lander into an elliptical orbit that passed within 15 miles of the surface. On Wednesday, as the spacecraft approached the low point of the orbit, moving at more than 3,700 miles per hour, a preprogrammed sequence of maneuvers commenced.

The craft’s four engines fired again at the start of what ISRO called the “rough braking” portion of the descent, its speed of fall accelerating. After 11.5 minutes, the lander was just over 4.5 miles above the surface and started rotating from a horizontal to a vertical position while continuing its descent.

The spacecraft stopped to hover about 150 yards above the surface for a few seconds, then resumed its downward journey until it settled gently on the surface, about 370 miles from the south pole. The landing sequence took about 19 minutes.

Chandrayaan-3 is a scientific mission, timed for a two-week period when the sun will shine on the landing site and provide energy for the solar-powered lander and rover. The lander and rover will use a range of instruments to make thermal, seismic and mineralogical measurements.

India and ISRO have many other plans afoot.

Although an Indian astronaut flew to orbit on a Soviet spacecraft in 1984, the country has never sent people to space on its own. India is preparing its first astronaut mission, called Gaganyaan. But the project, which aims to send three Indian astronauts to space on the country’s own spacecraft, has faced delays, and ISRO has not announced a date.

The country is also working on launching a solar observatory called Aditya-L1 in early September, and later, an Earth observation satellite built jointly with NASA. India is also planning a follow-up to its recently concluded Mars orbiter mission.

Mr. Somanath has described the current moment as an inflection point, with the country opening its space efforts to private investors after half a century of state monopoly that made advances but at “a shoestring budget mode of working.”

“These are very cost-effective missions,” Mr. Somanath said after the landing. “No one in the world can do it like we do.”

When pressed by reporters about the cost of Chandrayaan-3, Mr. Somanath deflected with laughter: “I won’t disclose such secrets, we don’t want everyone else to become so cost-effective!”

While ISRO will continue exploring the solar system, the accomplishments of India’s private sector may soon garner as much attention. A younger generation of space engineers, inspired by SpaceX , have started going into business on their own. While ISRO’s budget in the past fiscal year was less than $1.5 billion, the size of India’s private space economy is already at least $6 billion and is expected to triple as soon as 2025.

And the pace of change is quickening. Mr. Modi’s government wants India to harness the private sector’s entrepreneurial energy to put more satellites and investment into space — and faster.

Up on the moon Vikram and Pragyan were set to get to work, with the rover possibly rolling onto the lunar surface in the coming hours or sometime on Thursday according to Mr. Somanath. The landing site, on a plateau south of the Manzinus crater and to the west of the Boguslawsky crater, is at about the same latitude as the edge of Antarctica on Earth.

To date, spacecraft have successfully landed on the moon closer to the equator. The polar regions are intriguing because there is frozen water at the bottom of permanently shadowed craters. If such water can be found in sufficient quantities and extracted, astronauts could use it for future space exploration.

The lunar south pole is the intended destination for astronauts who could visit the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, and also for upcoming Chinese and Russian missions. In the nearer term, as many as three robotic missions, one from Japan and two from private U.S. companies working with NASA, could head to the moon later this year.

But in Bengaluru after the launch, Mr. Somanath hinted that India had its eyes on worlds beyond the moon.

“It is very difficult for any nation to achieve. But we have done so with just two attempts,” he said. “It gives confidence to land on Mars and maybe Venus and other planets, maybe asteroids.”

Kenneth Chang

On the moon’s south pole, a quest for ice.

If you want to send astronauts to the moon, a place with water would be a good destination.

Obviously, humans need to drink water to survive, and water molecules can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen provides air to breathe, and hydrogen and oxygen can also be used as rocket propellants to get back home to Earth, or somewhere else in the solar system.

But water is heavy, and lugging it from Earth is expensive and inconvenient.

The rocks brought back by NASA’s Apollo astronauts from 1969 through 1972 suggested that the moon was completely dry. But then planetary scientists started seeing hints of water ice at the bottom of craters in the polar regions where the sun never shines. India’s first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1 , collected some of the data that confirmed the presence of water.

The armada of missions now headed to the south pole aim to measure how much water is contained in the shadowed craters and how difficult it would be to extract the water. (It could be very difficult if the water molecules are trapped within minerals and not as ice mixed in with the soil.)

Layers of ice in the craters could also provide a history book of the solar system, much like how ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica provide a record of Earth’s climate.

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Michael Roston

You won’t have to wait long for the next moon mission.

If you found the journeys of India’s Chandrayaan-3 and Russia’s Luna-25 missions exciting, we have even more lunar adventures for you to follow. One moon mission will be in the news later this week, and there could be even more lunar missions later this year.

The next mission will launch on Friday, Aug. 26. It’s called Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, and comes from Japan’s space agency, JAXA. SLIM aims to test the country’s lunar landing technologies; JAXA has yet to announce a landing date for the mission. Sign up for The Times Space and Astronomy Calendar to get a reminder about the launch and landing of SLIM.

Two American companies are also vying to set down on the lunar surface later this year. They are participants in a program called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS , in which NASA pays private businesses to send experiments to the surface of the moon.

A lander from the first company, Intuitive Machines, of Houston, could launch as early as Nov. 15 on a SpaceX rocket. It will head to the lunar south polar region.

The other lander, from Astrobotic Technology, of Pittsburgh, is to be lofted by the new Vulcan Centaur rocket. It will head to the northeast edge of the Ocean of Storms on the moon’s near side. It had been expected to launch earlier this year, but was delayed after an explosion during a test of a version of a part of the rocket. A launch is expected sometime before the end of this year .

NASA selected the landing sites for both missions based on their science value for the future missions of Artemis, the American program to return astronauts to the moon on a sustainable basis.

Alex Travelli

S. Somanath, the director of the Indian Space Research Organization, had fun deflecting one reporter’s question about the project’s frugal cost. Somanath laughed and said, “I won’t disclose such secrets. We don’t want everyone else to become so cost-effective!” The Chandrayaan-2 was reported to have cost about $46 million, and the Chandrayaan-3 is supposed to have been in a similar range.

Speaking to reporters gathered outside Mission Control, the chairman of ISRO, S. Somanath, told us that the lander’s rover, named Pragyaan, would be rolled out in a matter of hours or, maybe, tomorrow. Its sensors, including a laser and an alpha-particle beam, as well as instruments on the Vikram lander, will start relaying data after that.

Behind India’s space agency, a private space sector is ready to lift off.

As India looks out into the solar system, its space agency is taking a star turn from an earlier era of space exploration. While the national government looks like a hero, private companies that are increasingly important players in the country’s space program operate quietly behind the scene.

ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, was born not long after NASA. In recent years, it has sent robotic orbiters to Mars and the moon and is now preparing to send the first Indian astronauts to space. Based in Bengaluru, the center of the world’s third-largest tech start-up scene, ISRO has bequeathed India a legacy of derring-do in space research.

But the accomplishments of India’s private sector may soon garner as much attention. A younger generation of space engineers, inspired by SpaceX, have started going into business on their own.

And the pace of change is quickening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants India to harness the private sector’s entrepreneurial energy to put more satellites and investment into space, faster. That means relegating ISRO to a lower priority.

Mr. Modi hinted at this ambition in June 2020 when he launched IN-SPACe, a government agency headed by a former chairman of India’s biggest multinational automobile company, and assigned it with “space promotion and authorization.” It has become a one-stop shop for India’s private players, as they sign memorandums of understanding with the government and make plans involving ISRO’s spaceport.

This year Mr. Modi’s government published an official space policy that listed IN-SPACe’s role first and gave it more than twice as many priorities as ISRO, which is now to “focus primarily on research and development” and “expanding the human understanding of outer space.”

Outer space is of less interest to commerce, compared with satellites that exchange information with the Earth’s surface, and so the segment left to ISRO seems to be shrinking. While ISRO’s budget in the past fiscal year was less than $1.5 billion, the size of India’s private space economy is already at least $6 billion, and expected to triple as soon as 2025.

Mujib Mashal

S. Somanath, the director of the Indian Space Research Organization, highlights what has been a defining characteristic of India’s space program — that they have achieved a lot with far fewer resources than other major players. “These are very cost effective missions. No one in the world can do it like we do.”

On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Bill Nelson, administrator of NASA, offered his congratulations to ISRO after India became the fourth nation to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the moon. “We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!” he wrote. (NASA provided access to its Deep Space Network of radio antenna for communications with India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.)

India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, joins in the celebrations. “We are deeply indebted to the remarkable hard work, unparalleled ingenuity and unflinching dedication of our scientists, space engineers, researchers,” Mallikarjun Kharge, the party’s president, said.

Hari Kumar and Mujib Mashal

Here is what’s next for India in space exploration.

India has a busy decade of space exploration ahead.

S. Somanath, the director of Indian Space Research Organization, has described the current moment as an inflection point, as the country opens its space programs to private investors after half a century of state monopoly that made advances but at “a shoestring budget mode of working.”

A large share of India’s space efforts in the coming years will focus on the moon.

In addition to the scientific results of Chandrayaan-3, India is preparing a joint lunar exploration with Japan, in which India will provide the lander and Japan the launch vehicle and the rover. The robotic mission, known as LUPEX, is also intended for exploring the South Pole of the moon.

Although an Indian astronaut flew to orbit in 1984, the country has never sent humans to space on its own. It is therefore preparing its first astronaut mission to space, called Gaganyaan. But the project, which aims to send three Indian astronauts to space on the country’s own spacecraft, has faced delays, and ISRO has not announced a date for it.

ISRO will first have to conduct a test flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft with no astronauts aboard. Officials have said they are at the stage of perfecting the crew escape system, and they said this month that they had tested the drogue parachutes, which help stabilize the capsule that the astronauts will ride as they return to Earth.

Additionally, India is preparing for the Aditya-L1 mission, which plans to study the sun, in early September. ISRO officials have said that it will carry seven payloads to study the photosphere chromosphere and the outermost layers of the sun using electromagnetic and particle detectors.

Another mission is the collaborative NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, which will monitor changes in our planet’s land and ice surfaces from orbit. It is slated to launch from India next year.

The country will also launch a second Mars orbiter mission. The first Mars mission, Mangalyaan, successfully entered the planet’s orbit in 2014 and remained in communication with ISRO until the mission concluded in 2022 when the spacecraft lost power . It made India the first country to achieve Martian orbit on its first attempt, and demonstrated that the country could show scientific prowess even when resources are constrained: The mission’s budget of about $75 million was less than the $100 million budget of the Hollywood space film “Gravity.”

Lynsey Chutel

In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa celebrated the successful landing during a summit of the five-member group of nations known as BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. "This, for us as the BRICS family, is a momentous occasion, and we rejoice with you," he said to applause.

The ISRO leadership who managed Chandrayaan-3 make clear the failure of their last moon landing attempt, in 2019, was a major driving force. “From the day we started rebuilding our spacecraft after Chandaryaan-2 experience, it has been breathe in breathe out Chandrayaan-3 for our team,” said Kalpana Kalahasti, the mission's associate project director.

The Deep Space Network, a NASA network of large dish antennas, is assisting ISRO in communicating with the ground. Right now, it shows Chandrayaan-3 sending and receiving signals.

Modi is speaking: “This is an unprecedented moment," he says, adding, "This is the moment for new, developing India. This is the moment for 1.4 billion” Indians.

A genuine roar rips out, from both Mission Control and the media tent and elsewhere in the ISRO compound: the lander has landed! Mr. Modi’s face was streamed on screen, silently smiling, during the final hundred meters’ descent. Now the speeches begin, and everyone is clapping.

The landing attempt, in its final minutes, is being viewed by 7.5 million people on ISRO’s youtube channel, and it is broadcast live on Indian news channels.

Kenneth Chang and Jonathan Corum

The moon may be the easiest place in the solar system to land, or crash.

Once a robotic spacecraft is commanded to land on the moon, there is no turning back.

The task is not easy, but in many ways, the moon is the easiest place in the solar system to land a spacecraft from Earth.

It is the closest destination, less than a quarter-million miles away. It is much smaller than Earth or the other planets, so its gravity is weaker and it is easier to slow spacecraft down.

Unlike Mars, the moon’s atmosphere doesn’t generate searing temperatures on the outside of the spacecraft during descent. Venus is even more hellish, with temperatures close to 900 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface and corrosive sulfuric acid in the atmosphere.

Yet when Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon on Saturday, two days before a planned landing attempt, it was the latest in a series of impacts, belly flops and hard landings since 1959, when the Soviet Union’s Luna-2 became the first probe to hit the moon.

Some crashes were setbacks. Others were intentional, marking the end of a successful mission. Whatever the cause, space agencies have learned from each collision. Crashes can reveal software glitches or weaknesses in a spacecraft’s design, and they can expose material under the lunar surface for future study.

In the following interactive, take the moon for a spin and see all the places where the United States, the Soviet Union, China, India and others have crashed on the moon:

Racing to Land, or Crash, on the Moon

Six decades of crashes, belly flops and hard landings on the lunar surface.

This is closer to landing than Chandrayaan-2 got.

Whoops and cheering as the spacecraft flips from a horizontal to a vertical orientation, at less than 800 meters above the lunar surface.

As the spacecraft continues its automated descent to the moon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just shown up on screen in mission control in a video call from South Africa, prompting further applause in the room.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in South Africa for a meeting of the BRICS countries during the landing attempt. In 2019, Mr. Modi was at the control room to console the emotional scientists after Chandrayaan-2 failed, hugging the weeping chief of that mission.

Chandrayaan-3 is aiming to land in the moon’s south polar region.

Chandrayaan-3 is aiming for a landing site in the moon’s south polar region at about 70 degrees south latitude, or about 370 miles from the south pole. That latitude is about as far south as the edge of Antarctica is on Earth.

The landing site lies on a plateau south of the Manzinus crater and to the west of the Boguslawsky crater. That is roughly in the same neighborhood as where India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission crashed in 2019, and where Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft, which crashed on Saturday, was to set down.

Chandrayaan-2

Chandrayaan-3

target landing site

Boguslawsky

target landing

Scientists working on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter described the terrain as “relatively ancient.” The spacecraft is heading to a spot that can be described as flat and boring, compared with more rugged parts of the lunar surface. Mission managers sometimes choose such nondescript environs to increase the chances of a successful landing.

There are no second chances now. The spacecraft is essentially doing a controlled fall toward the moon.

The powered descent has begun, and the room has burst into applause. Minutes ago, our window into the mission control was a picture of nervous tension. Sitting in front of banks of monitors and keyboards, most of the scientists seemed to be clutching pens and notebooks, with some tapping them in agitation. Now most are breaking into excited smiles.

The Chandrayaan-2 moon lander crashed in 2019, but its orbiter has produced 4 years of science.

The crash of the Chandrayaan-2 lander in 2019 was a disappointment to the Indian Space Research Organization — India’s equivalent of NASA. But the mission was not a total loss.

The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter continued to travel around the moon, where its suite of instruments have been making scientific observations.

One instrument on the orbiter identified signs of water, likely trapped in minerals , in parts of the moon far from the polar regions. Further study of the findings may give insights into the moon’s geology, chemical composition and interaction with the solar wind .

If the water can be extracted efficiently, “This is also significant for future planetary exploration for resource utilization,” a team of ISRO researchers wrote in a paper published two years ago.

Using data from another instrument that measured X-rays, scientists produced a map of the abundance of the element sodium on the lunar surface . That helps answer the mystery of sodium atoms that have been observed floating above the surface. The sodium atoms can be knocked off the surface by the bombardment of ions and ultraviolet light from the sun.

Chandrayaan-2 will also have another important job if the Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeds in landing. The older orbiter will be the new lander’s link back home to mission control on Earth.

The live video feed from the interior of the Mission Control room has just taken over the large screen in the media area. In Hindi, an announcer welcomes all who have come to watch, from around the world. “All are excited to see the moment of the Chandrayaan landing on the moon.”

Excitement is building around the HQ of India’s space agency. The media tent outside ISRO’s Mission Control room in Bengaluru is thronging, with the buzz of human chatter drowning out the hum of the underpowered air-coolers. Banners celebrating the “Chandrayaan Mission Soft Landing Event” have been unfurled and flowers garland an empty lectern before a giant LED screen that glows with a holding pattern.

Why India’s last moon lander crashed

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on Chandrayaan-3 are almost identical to the ones that were aboard Chandrayaan-2 four years ago. Indeed, their names are unchanged.

The Chandrayaan-2 landing attempt on Sept. 6, 2019, appeared to be going well, until the lander was about 1.3 miles above the surface. Then its trajectory diverged from the planned path .

The problems arose because one of the lander’s five engines had thrust that was slightly higher than expected, S. Somanath, the chairman of India’s space agency, said during a news conference last month. With the spacecraft firing its engines to slow down, that meant it slowed more than anticipated.

The spacecraft tried to correct its path, but its software specified limits on how quickly it could turn. And because of the higher thrust, the lander was still some distance from its destination even as it approached the ground.

“The craft is trying to reach there by increasing velocity to reach there, whereas it was not having enough time to,” Mr. Somanath said.

In essence, the spacecraft’s computer was unable to find a solution that could satisfy all of the requirements for how and where it was supposed to land, and as a result, it crashed.

Months later, an amateur internet sleuth used imagery from a NASA spacecraft to locate the crash site , where the debris of the Vikram and Pragyan sit to this day.

Although the design of the Chandrayaan-3 lander is largely the same, engineers made alterations to avoid a repeat of the 2019 crash. Changes include stronger landing legs, more propellant, additional solar cells to gather energy from the sun and improved sensors to measure the altitude.

The software was also fixed so that the spacecraft could turn faster if needed, and the allowed landing area has been expanded.

If they get to the moon, the lander and the rover will use a range of instruments to make thermal, seismic and mineralogical measurements of the area.

It was a difficult weekend for Russia’s space program.

When Russia’s robotic Luna-25 mission launched on Aug. 11, it seemed set on a course to deny the Indian Chandrayaan-3 mission its shot at becoming the first spacecraft to land on the moon successfully this year.

But things turned out differently.

While Chandrayaan-3 took a steady, fuel-saving course to lunar orbit, Luna-25 rushed toward the moon, arriving there only five days after launching.

The Russian vehicle appeared to execute a series of orbital adjustments. Then, on Saturday, disaster struck.

At 2:10 p.m. Moscow time, Luna-25 fired its engines in order to move the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit that would prepare it for landing on Monday. By 2:57 p.m., Russia had lost contact with the spacecraft.

Yury Borisov, the head of Roscosmos, the state corporation that oversees Russia’s space program, described what was said to have gone wrong to the Rossiya 24 TV channel . The engine had been programmed to fire for 84 seconds. Instead, it fired for 127 seconds. That extra push sent the spacecraft on a collision course with the lunar surface. After nearly a day of silence, Roscosmos disclosed the failure on Sunday.

Mr. Borisov did not explain what had caused the engine to fire for too long. In an interview with The Times on Sunday , Natan Eismont, a senior scientist with the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that there had been indications that the engine had performance problems during Luna-25’s mission to the moon. Though not involved in the mission, he suggested that its managers may have needed to take more time before attempting the fateful burn that destroyed the spacecraft.

A mix of pride and anticipation mounts ahead of the moon landing.

Across India on Wednesday, there was an air of excitement and anticipation.

In a country with a deep tradition of science, schools were holding special ceremonies and organizing live viewings of the moon landing. Prayers were offered for the mission’s success at Hindu temples, Sikh Gurdwaras and Muslim mosques — an important moment of unity in what has otherwise been fraught times of sectarian tension .

Radio jockeys beamed with excitement, repeating the evening landing time before playing joyful songs. Television channels ran countdown clocks and competed in tickers. “INDIA’S MOON SHOT,” read the chyron at the bottom of one channel’s screen.

In Delhi, students made artwork celebrating what they hope will be a historic day — India joining just three other countries in landing on the moon and becoming the first to land in its southern polar region. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, the government there has announced that schools would remain open in the evening for students to gather and watch the broadcast from mission control.

“We are very proud to say we are Indian because of our scientists,” one student from the southern city of Hyderabad told a television channel.

The police band in the city of Mumbai, India’s commercial and entertainment hub, sent a “special musical tribute” to the scientists working on the mission. They performed a popular patriotic song, Hum Honge Kaamyab.

The mood around the landing, which will take place just a little after sunset in India, was captured by the opening line of an article in Times of India .

“When the sun sets on Wednesday, look at the moon: India may be up there.”

Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar

India’s space ambition mirrors the country’s rise as a geopolitical power.

India’s recent efforts in space exploration closely mirror the country’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise.

That assertiveness on the world stage is a central campaign message for Mr. Modi, who is up for re-election for a third term early next year. He has frequently fused his image with that of India’s rise as an economic, diplomatic and technological power.

“Thanks to our scientists, India has a very rich history in the space sector,” Mr. Modi said after Chandrayaan-3’s launch to the moon last month. “This remarkable mission will carry the hopes and dreams of our nation.”

India aims to be only the fourth country to achieve a moon landing — after the United States, the Soviet Union and China — and the first to do so in the moon’s South Pole region.

Much of India’s foreign policy in recent decades has been shaped by a delicate balancing act between Washington and Moscow, as the country grapples with an increasingly aggressive China at its borders. The two countries’ militaries have been stuck in a standoff in the Himalayas for three years now, and the vulnerability to a threat from China is a major driving factor in India’s calculations.

The common frustration with Beijing has only increased American and Indian cooperation , including in space, where China is establishing itself in direct competition with the United States. Russia’s failed moon landing just days before India’s successful attempt was the latest indication of Moscow’s struggles as a space power.

On the day India is attempting its moon landing, Mr. Modi is in South Africa for a meeting of the group of nations known as BRICS . Much attention will be focused on whether Mr. Modi will sit down for talks on the summit’s sidelines with President Xi Jinping of China, which would be the first proper bilateral discussion between the two leaders since the deadly skirmishes between their militaries in 2020.

At the BRICS summit on Wednesday, Mr. Modi pitched the creation of a consortium for space exploration among the group’s members to “work for global good in areas like space research and weather monitoring.” The suggestion to a group where China and Russia are key members was another indication of India’s constant balancing act — it came just months after Mr. Modi’s government signed on to the U.S.-led Artemis Accords for space exploration.

Bharat Karnad, an emeritus professor of national security studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, said India’s cost-effective approach to space exploration was “making India the launcher of choice for many countries for their low Earth orbit communications satellites.”

But the potential success of Chandrayaan-3 comes at a particularly important moment in the country’s rise, Mr. Karnad said, and Mr. Modi can reap benefits in leaning into India’s scientific prowess to “more confidently assert Indian national interest on the world stage.”

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India’s Space Odyssey: From Historic Milestones to Diplomatic Triumphs

23/08/24 | 10:59 am | National Space Day

India is celebrating its first-ever National Space Day today (Friday) on the theme “Touching Lives While Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga”. On 23 August 2023, India achieved a historic milestone when the Chandrayaan-3 lander completed a soft landing on the moon. This remarkable accomplishment made India the 4th country to accomplish this feat and the 1st to land on the lunar South Pole. In recognition of this achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared August 23 as National Space Day.

The space sector is one of the most rapidly growing sectors worldwide. In 2022, the global space economy was valued at around US$ 546 billion and is expected to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2040. With the ever-expanding space sector globally, Indian space programs are also expected to reach new heights. In 2021, the Indian space industry contributed 2% to the global share; this is expected to rise to 8% by 2030 and further to 15% by 2047. As India celebrates its maiden National Space Day on August 23, 2024, it becomes even more pertinent to address its international reach.

From Humble Beginnings to Dominating the Global Space Sector

India boasts one of the oldest and most advanced space programs, encompassing a broad spectrum of space activities and capabilities. This has positioned the country as an emerging major space power in the current global space landscape and the leading space actor in South Asia. From 1962, when INSCOPAR (the Indian National Committee for Space Research) was established, it took six years to transform into the now-known ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). In 1963, the first Nike Apache Class rocket was launched from India. This launch was, in itself, an international collaborative mission. The US provided two rockets, France supplied the sodium vapor payload, and the Soviet Union arranged for the Mi-4 helicopter for range clearance. This mission set India’s foot in the sky and allowed it to carve its wings to fly higher.

The much-renowned Aryabhata was launched in 1975 and was India’s first satellite—a “Made in India” launch that used a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle from Kapustin Yar in the Soviet Union. On that day, India became the world’s 11th nation to send a satellite into orbit. The historic launch was celebrated by the Reserve Bank of India, and the satellite’s image was printed on the Rs 2 rupee note, which remained in circulation between 1976 and 1997. Now, as India celebrates its maiden National Space Day, more than 430 foreign satellites have been launched by ISRO.

India has set multiple records in the space sector. With the landing of Chandrayaan-3 in 2023, India became the first to land in the lunar south pole region. It was in recognition of this achievement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that August 23, the day India landed on the moon, would be designated as National Space Day. Additionally, ISRO’s remarkable feat includes launching 104 satellites, including 101 foreign ones, into Earth’s lower orbit from the spaceport of Sriharikota in February 2017. This set a record for the most satellites launched in one go. Mangalyaan was the first mission to reach Mars in the first attempt, and Chandrayaan-1 was the first mission to discover water on the moon. These achievements are only a few of many and reiterate India’s potential.

GSAT-9: A Gift from India to South Asian Countries

A notable achievement in India’s space diplomacy was the launch of the “South Asia Satellite” (GSAT-9) in May 2017. This geosynchronous communications satellite was designed to provide a range of services to the region, including telecommunications, broadcasting, telemedicine, tele-education, and disaster management support. Initially proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2014, the satellite was envisioned as “a gift from India” for the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) [except Pakistan]. The South Asian countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka—welcomed India’s initiative. Following the satellite launch, the leaders of the participating countries held a video conference to celebrate the project, recognizing it as a significant milestone in advancing regional integration and cooperation.

What Makes ISRO a Global Favourite?

The cost-effectiveness of ISRO’s missions is widely noted. For instance, the Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan missions were achieved on shoestring budgets of $73 million and $75 million, respectively, less than the costs of Hollywood science fiction blockbusters Gravity ($100 million) and The Martian ($108 million).

Additionally, reliability stems from its proven track record. ISRO has consistently delivered successful missions, including complex ones like Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, and the recent Chandrayaan-3. This reliability enhances its global reputation. ISRO has developed much of its technology in-house, leading to innovations like the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which have garnered global acclaim and recognition.

Currently, India has around 300 space start-ups, and more than 1000 crore INR have been invested in the space sector by private partners. The government has also boosted the sector with a 142% increase in the space budget over the last nine years, making the Indian space sector an attractive destination and a key player.

Space Diplomacy: The Need and India’s Position

Space diplomacy fosters international collaboration to harness space resources, making it a common goal across countries. In this context, India’s space diplomacy has evolved significantly. It has successfully created a commercial pathway for the private space industry while also collaborating with international partners, making it one of the most trusted international actors in the space domain.

The collaborative efforts and international reach of Indian space programs have been highly diverse. With the USA, ISRO collaborated on the NISAR mission and joined the Artemis Accords in 2023, aiming for successful manned moon missions by 2025. India also collaborates with ESA, the European Space Agency, on the SARAL oceanographic satellite and the ExoMars rover mission.

With Japan, collaborations include work on a range of satellites for communication, observation, and astronomy. JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, uses ISRO’s navigation technology to enhance spacecraft autonomy for interplanetary missions. ISRO and CNES, France, have collaborated on several projects for more than six decades, including the Cartosat-2 series of Earth observation satellites. India has also worked with Russia on Gaganyaan astronaut training.

By engaging in partnerships with countries like the USA, ESA, Japan, and France, India leverages its space capabilities for mutual benefits and fosters technological advancements. This cooperation facilitates access to cutting-edge technologies, strengthens its commercial space sector, and promotes regional influence. Additionally, space diplomacy supports India’s strategic goals, contributes to global space exploration efforts, and highlights its commitment to emerging as a leader in space research and innovation.

By: Pooja Mishra (DD India)

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India's Journey to Becoming a Space Power Since Independence

Explore india's remarkable journey from early space missions to becoming a global space power. discover milestones like chandrayaan-3, aditya-l1, and upcoming missions xposat and gaganyaan in this comprehensive look at india's space achievements since independence..

As India commemorates its 78th Independence Day in 2024, the achievement of landing a spacecraft on the Moon's south pole highlights the nation's exceptional scientific and engineering prowess. This historic feat, accomplished in 2023, signifies India’s significant advancement in space technology and its emerging role on the global stage of space exploration.

National Space Day - 2024 The historic landing of #Chandrayaan3 on the Moon is celebrated as National Space Day every year on August 23. Dr. S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, invites all citizens to participate in these activities and join the nationwide celebrations. #NSpD2024 pic.twitter.com/odtAfy1yTc — ISRO (@isro) July 22, 2024

In his address, PM Modi declared August 23rd as National Space Day, commemorating the day when India "hoisted the flag on the Moon." Reflecting on India's progress, he noted, "There was a time when we were counted in the third row. Today, from trade to technology, India is counted among the countries standing in the first row. In this journey from 'third row' to 'first row,' institutions like our ISRO have played a crucial role."

India's Journey to Becoming a Space Power Since Independence

The country proudly celebrates the birthday of Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai pic.twitter.com/4l8DLUtUc2 — ISRO (@isro) August 12, 2024

During the Nehru Science Centre’s lockdown lecture on 'Space - An Opportunity for India', Former Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO, Padma Shri A. S. Kiran Kumar explained how India made use of Space technology under Dr Vikram Sarabhai.

“It was Dr. Vikram Sarabhai who convinced the government, just after 10 years of independence, that Space Technology can be beneficial for the county.  India which started its space journey with no infrastructure, has built a self-reliant infrastructure today,” A. S. Kiran Kumar said.

1950s-1960s: The Dawn of Space Ambitions

1947-1960: The Foundation

India's space journey began in an era of newfound independence and aspirations. The seeds of this journey were sown by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who is often regarded as the father of the Indian space program. In the late 1940s and 1950s, space science was still in its infancy globally, and India's technological landscape was modest.

However, Dr. Sarabhai's vision was clear. He famously said, “There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with economically advanced nations in the exploration of the Moon or the planets or manned space flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society.”

1960-1970: The First Steps

1970-1980: laying the groundwork.

The 1970s were crucial for the consolidation of India's space capabilities. In 1969, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed, superseding INCOSPAR, and under Dr. Sarabhai's guidance, it set ambitious goals. The decade witnessed the launch of Aryabhata, India's first satellite, on April 19, 1975. Although launched by the Soviet Union, Aryabhata was a milestone for India, marking the country's first step in satellite technology. The satellite was named after the ancient Indian mathematician and astronomer, reflecting the country’s rich scientific heritage.

1980-1990: The Decade of PSLV

The 1980s were marked by the development of India's indigenous launch capabilities. The Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) program culminated in the successful launch of SLV-3 in 1980, which placed the Rohini satellite into orbit. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was a key figure in this program, reflected on this success by stating, "Dream is not that which you see while sleeping; it is something that does not let you sleep." This quote captures the relentless drive that powered India's space ambitions.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program was also initiated during this period, with its first successful launch in 1994. PSLV became the workhorse of India's space program, known for its reliability and versatility. It not only placed Indian satellites into orbit but also carried payloads for other countries, establishing ISRO as a reliable and cost-effective launch service provider.

1990-2000: Expanding Horizons

The 1990s and 2000s were periods of rapid expansion for India’s space program. One of the most notable achievements was the launch of the INSAT series of satellites, which revolutionized telecommunications, meteorology, and broadcasting in India. INSAT-1A, launched in 1982, marked the beginning of a new era of satellite communication in India.

2000-2010: The Moon and Mars

The new millennium brought with it bolder ambitions. In 2008, India launched its first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1. This mission was a major milestone, as it was the first to discover the presence of water molecules on the Moon's surface. Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, the Project Director of Chandrayaan-1, reflected on the mission's success, stating, "Our findings on water on the Moon is one of the most significant discoveries in planetary exploration."

The findings of two other studies published in the journal Science also confirmed the reports from this lunar mission. Carle Pieters of Brown University along with colleagues reviewed the data and found that the water seems thicker closer to the poles. “When we say ‘water on the moon’,  we are not talking about lakes, oceans or even puddles. Water on the Moon means molecules of water and hydroxyl (hydrogen and oxygen) that interact with molecules of rock and dust specifically in the top millimetres of the moon’s surface,” said Pieters in a statement.

2010-2020: Strengthening Capabilities

The 2010s were marked by significant technological advancements and achievements for ISRO. The successful launch of the GSLV Mk III in 2014 was a major milestone, as it enabled India to launch heavier payloads and opened the doors to future manned missions. The same year saw the launch of GSAT-10, which further enhanced India's communication capabilities.

2020-2023: The Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 Success

Chandrayaan-3 Landing on South Pole of the Moon

In 2023, India achieved another major milestone with the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon's south pole on August 23, 2023. This mission not only placed India in an elite group of spacefaring nations but also demonstrated its growing expertise in complex space missions. The success of Chandrayaan-3 was celebrated not only in India but also globally, with scientists and space experts lauding ISRO's achievement.

Chandrayaan-3: Why is it important to land on the South Pole of the Moon?

Aditya-L1: India's First Solar Mission

Another significant milestone during this period was the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission, India's first dedicated solar observation mission. Aditya-L1, named after the Sun (Aditya in Sanskrit), was launched on September 2, 2023to study the outermost layer of the Sun, the corona, and its impact on the Earth's climate.

2024: Pioneering Space Exploration

XpoSat: ISRO’s First Polarimetry Mission

XpoSat, or the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, is set to be launched in 2024. This mission is India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission designed to study cosmic X-rays. The satellite aims to measure the polarization of X-rays from sources such as neutron stars and black holes, providing insights into some of the universe’s most extreme and energetic phenomena.

What is XPoSat? ISRO’s First Polarimetry Mission

Gaganyaan: India’s First Manned Mission

The main objective of the Gaganyaan mission is to take an Indian citizen to space on an Indian rocket from the Indian side; 2 to 3 astronauts travel to space & be in orbit of 400kms for 3 days to a week & safely land on Earth: Former ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan pic.twitter.com/qjEs4xy9Nr — ANI (@ANI) March 25, 2022

The Road Ahead

India’s journey to becoming a space power since independence is a remarkable tale of vision and perseverance. From the nascent days of launching sounding rockets in the 1960s to achieving landmark milestones like the Chandrayaan-3 landing and the upcoming Gaganyaan mission, India has transformed into a global space leader. Through relentless innovation and strategic missions, India has not only expanded its scientific horizons but has also contributed significantly to global space exploration.

During the Nehru Science Centre’s lockdown lecture, A. S. Kiran Kumar further talked about various opportunities the space has to offer. He said, ‘Space economy is a 400 billion dollar market from launch vehicles, satellites, applications & services’. He cited that space traffic management and space debris monitoring, space mining, space tourism, and farming solar power are some areas with tremendous opportunities. 

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India’s accomplishments in space are getting more impressive

These images from the Moon are a crowning achievement for India's space program.

It's been more than a week since India's Chandrayaan 3 mission landed on the Moon, and it's a good time to assess where the world's most populous nation stands relative to other global space powers.

The successful arrival of the Chandrayaan 3 mission's Vikram lander on the Moon made India the first country besides China to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface since 1976, following a series of failed landings by private organizations and India itself four years ago. And it made India just the fourth nation overall to achieve this feat.

Since the landing of Chandrayaan 3 on August 23, India has released some early findings from the lander and its mobile rover, named Pragyan, along with photos of the vehicles exploring the Moon's alien charcoal-color landscape.

The Moon landing is just the latest in a string of successes in space for India, which has a thriving rocket program with a family of four launch vehicles, its own regional satellite navigation network, and nearly 10 years ago sent an orbiter to Mars. If India can notch another success in its space program in the next few years, the country could become the fourth nation capable of sending its astronauts into low-Earth orbit.

India is still well behind the space programs of the United States and China, but one could argue India has moved closer to Europe and Russia and could be on par with Japan when you take into account several factors: access to space, space exploration, military space projects, and applications like communications, navigation, and remote sensing from orbit.

Among the space powers considered here, India has the lowest human development index, a measure of social factors such as quality of life, income, and education. But its space program is a point of national pride, and Narendra Modi, India's nationalist prime minister, has made a point to associate himself with Indian successes in space.

Those successes have come on a shoestring budget. The Indian government this year is allocating $1.52 billion to space efforts, and India developed and launched Chandrayaan 3 for less than $100 million, lower than the cost of many blockbuster Hollywood films.

“I’ve described India as a sleeping giant and one that is quickly awakening," said Mike Gold, an attorney and space industry official who previously led NASA's space policy office. "India is absolutely vital to global space development... since the country is active with lunar programs, Martian programs, and now even human spaceflight.”

Since the landing of Chandrayaan 3, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—India's space agency—has released a handful of images, including a black-and-white shot of the stationary SUV-size Vikram lander taken by the Pragyan rover. There's also a video, shown below, of the Pragyan rover rolling down the ramp from the Vikram lander in the hours after arriving on the Moon on August 23.

So far, ISRO hasn't been releasing all of the pictures taken by the rover and lander on the Moon, and the Indian space agency hasn't posted many images on its website, preferring to share them on social media. Let's hope Indian officials develop a better way of releasing high-resolution imagery from Chandrayaan 3 and future deep space probes.

But it's always exciting to see a place human eyes have never seen before, and India's triumph with Chandrayaan 3 is worth celebrating.

In a visit with Indian space scientists in Bangalore last week, Modi announced the Chandrayaan 3 landing site would be named Shiv Shakti Point, a reference to Shiva, a principal deity in Hinduism, and Shakti, which honors the role of women scientists on the mission.

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover settled onto a landing site closer to the Moon's south pole than any previous lunar lander. Early science results from the mission include the detection of a seismic "event" on the Moon, and the first measurements of the plasma environment near the lunar surface close to the south pole.

"These quantitative measurements potentially assist in mitigating the noise that lunar plasma introduces into radio wave communication. Also, they could contribute to the enhanced designs for upcoming lunar visitors," ISRO said.

Instruments on the rover have detected sulfur in the lunar crust at the landing site. "This finding... compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of sulfur in the area," ISRO said, adding that the element could be intrinsic to the landing site or may have been produced by an ancient volcanic eruption or an asteroid or cometary impact.

The Times of India reported this week that Indian engineers are increasingly optimistic that the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover could wake up and continue their mission after the upcoming two-week-long lunar night. When the Sun sets at the landing site next week, the two vehicles will hibernate as temperatures plummet to minus 333° Fahrenheit (minus 203° Celsius).

The original design life of the lander and rover was to operate for one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, but assuming electronics and batteries hold up to the frigid conditions, there's a chance the vehicles will automatically wake up when rays of sunlight again fall on their solar panels in mid-September.

Taking India seriously

The landing follows several decades of serious growth in India's accomplishments in space. India launched a small satellite into low-Earth orbit with an indigenous rocket for the first time in 1980; it then debuted the workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in 1993.

India's orbital-class rockets only flew about one time per year until the early 2000s. Since then, India has ramped up its launch rate, reaching seven orbital flights on a couple of occasions, an annual record that India is poised to shatter this year. The country has launched its rockets six times so far in 2023, with a seventh launch scheduled for Saturday.

Those recent launch statistics fall far behind the United States, China, and Russia. In terms of mass launched into orbit, ISRO ranked fourth among global launch providers in the first half of this year, after SpaceX, China's state-run launch enterprises, and Russia's space agency, according to data released by BryceTech .

India's expendable rockets have notched 54 successful launches in 57 tries since 2011—a success rate of nearly 95 percent, about the same as all European and Japanese rockets and slightly better than Russian launch vehicles in the same period. India's 95 percent success rate falls short of the reliability of US launch companies SpaceX and United Launch Alliance and also lags behind China's Long March rocket family.

India's launch vehicles are regularly used to deploy the country's satellites and payloads from international and commercial customers. When OneWeb could no longer launch its Internet satellites on Russian rockets after the invasion of Ukraine, the company selected SpaceX and India's heaviest rocket , the LVM3, to finish launching the broadband network.

ISRO recently started an initiative to commercialize its rockets by turning over responsibility for manufacturing and launch operations to the private sector.

Launch is just one way of assessing the standing of India's space program on the global stage. India has dispatched robotic missions to orbit Mars, orbit the Moon, and now land on the Moon, vaulting ISRO into an exclusive club of space agencies. These achievements in planetary science are comparable to those of the European Space Agency and JAXA, Japan's space agency. Although those space agencies haven't landed on the Moon—and Japan hasn't had a successful mission to Mars—ESA and JAXA have had more success in sending probes to comets and asteroids.

In this area, India is indisputably ahead of Russia in terms of recent accomplishments. Russia hasn't had a successful mission to another celestial body since the Soviet era in the 1980s.

India and Japan are working together on a future robotic lunar landing mission that could launch in the late 2020s, and India in June signed on to the Artemis Accords , a non-binding set of principles among like-minded nations guiding a vision for peaceful and transparent exploration of space. The Artemis Accords were developed by the United States, and the signing raised questions about future Indian partnership with NASA's Artemis lunar program, although US and Indian officials haven't laid out any details of potential cooperation.

“The fact that they are a nation that intends in the future to fly their own astronauts, is that significant? The answer is yes,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a conversation with Ars in June. “I think it’s of significance that a major country that’s not considered aligned with the US (is) a signatory.”

Another milestone mission for India's space program is scheduled for launch on Saturday, when a PSLV rocket is set for liftoff with a solar observatory named Aditya-L1. This spacecraft will travel to an orbit around the L1 Lagrange point nearly a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) on the Sunward side of the Earth, where Aditya-L1 will use a solar telescope and coronagraph to observe the Sun and a suite of sensors to measure the solar wind.

Next year, an Indian rocket will send a sophisticated radar satellite into orbit in partnership with NASA to measure minute changes on Earth's surface.

Then there is the proliferation of Indian satellites circling Earth, ranging from television broadcast satellites to sharp-eyed reconnaissance spacecraft feeding data to India's military. India also has a network of satellites providing navigation services over South Asia, a similar regional capability to one that Japan has deployed over the last decade. The United States, China, and Russia each have their own satellite networks for global navigation services.

Where is India lagging?

Barring any significant delays, India is a few years away from truly entering the uppermost echelons of the world's space powers. The $1.1 billion Gaganyaan program (Gaganyaan means "celestial vehicle" in Sanskrit) has been a priority of Prime Minister Modi, who announced in 2018 that the new Indian-made space capsule would carry an Indian astronaut into orbit by 2022.

That timetable has come and gone, and the first crewed flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft is now projected to occur no earlier than 2025. But some big milestones are on the horizon, with a high-altitude test of the Gaganyaan launch abort system planned as soon as late September or early October. An on-pad test of the abort system occurred in 2018.

An orbital test flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft without any crew members aboard could launch in 2024, setting the stage for the astronaut flight in 2025.

As a prelude to the Gaganyaan program, NASA and ISRO have agreed to train Indian astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and an Indian crew member will fly to the International Space Station next year on a short-duration mission. Four Indian astronauts slated for the Gaganyaan program completed more than a year of training at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow in 2021, according to Indian media.

India is human-rating its LVM3 rocket, with two powerful solid rocket boosters and a liquid-fueled core stage, to haul the Gaganyaan spacecraft into orbit. The capsule is designed to accommodate a crew of three astronauts for missions lasting up to one week.

If India successfully establishes a sustainable human spaceflight program, then it may be time to re-evaluate India's ranking relative to Russia among space-faring nations. Despite Russia's languishing record in deep space exploration, its prowess in human spaceflight continues to make Russia's space program a global leader.

Russia's venerable Soyuz spacecraft used for crew missions still relies on a design originating more than 50 years ago, but the Soyuz has flown more missions than any other human-rated spacecraft. Russia has committed to ferrying crews to and from the International Space Station through at least 2028, but there are fundamental questions about what comes next for Russia's human spaceflight program.

Russia's space agency has unveiled a concept for a national space station to take over from the ISS, but new Russian space projects that aren't rooted in the designs of the Soviet era have had little success.

India also has some catching up to do in its military space program to match the capabilities of the United States, China, Russia, and the collective capacity of European nations. Likewise, India's expertise in rocket propulsion falls behind other countries.

For the most part, India's rockets are powered by solid-fueled motors and liquid-fueled engines using hypergolic propellants. These engines consume toxic hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, a propellant mix that the United States and Russia are moving away from with their large rockets.

Hypergolic propellants are easier to handle than cryogenic fuels, and they come with a benefit in their simplicity. Hypergolic fluids combust when they come into contact with one another, meaning the only thing that needs to happen for an engine to ignite is the opening of propellant valves.

India uses the liquid-fueled Vikas engine on its three largest rockets, including the new LVM3 that will launch the Gaganyaan crew spacecraft. The Vikas engine is based on the French Viking engine, which was developed in the 1970s for the European Ariane rocket. India has a cryogenic hydrogen-fueled upper-stage engine that flies on the LVM3, but there aren't any other engine development projects far enough along to be ready for flight in the next few years.

Russia, on the other hand, still boasts an impressive pedigree in rocket propulsion, good enough to find customers in the international market, including in the United States. Its kerosene-fueled staged combustion engines have a perfect record flying on ULA's Atlas V and Northrop Grumman's Antares rockets.

China's newest generation of Long March rockets are powered by engines that consume cryogenic propellants and will eventually replace the older line of Long March rockets using hypergolic propellants.

Of course, the United States is a world leader in rocket propulsion, with a wide array of high-thrust engines that burn kerosene, hydrogen, and methane.

Listing image: ISRO

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India: Advancing the Final Frontier with Self-Reliance and Diplomacy

In 2023, India became the first country to land on the coveted lunar south pole, and in January 2024, it became the  first Asian country to successfully place a probe in the sun’s orbit. Although India's space program began in the late 1960s, these recent milestones, along with its expanding current and planned activities, have elevated India to one of the leading spacefaring nations, alongside the U.S., China, and Russia. These achievements are paving the way for India to fulfil its ambition of becoming a major space power. 

India’s space ambitions are not merely technological showcases of its self-reliance; they are deeply intertwined with the country’s socio-economic goals, defence strategies, and geopolitical aspirations. Advances in satellite development have directly contributed to critical national needs, such as disaster management, agriculture, climate monitoring, and telecommunications. At the same time, India's focus on affordable and innovative space solutions has created commercial opportunities, leading to international collaborations and partnerships with other countries and private space companies. India has built a successful national space program while spending a fraction of what other leading space powers do. 

In recent years, India’s space program has gained strategic importance amid the growing global competition in space exploration between the United States and China, as well as India’s own rivalry with China. With the establishment of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center ( IN-SPACe ) and efforts to incentivize its commercial space sector, India is poised to foster a robust space economy that balances commercial opportunities with national security priorities.

India's space journey began in 1969 with the establishment of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) as an independent agency for space research. Three years later, ISRO was brought under the Department of Space (DoS), placing the space program directly under the Prime Minister’s Office. Since then, India has developed a successful national space program and a thriving commercial space industry, achieving significant advancements in satellite technology, lunar missions, and Mars exploration.

Satellite technology 

Over the years, India’s space program has been rooted in self-reliance, with a focus on developing launch vehicles, satellites, and other technologies domestically.   In its early stages, ISRO collaborated with other countries to launch its satellites, gaining valuable experience and expertise. India’s first satellite, the  Aryabhata , was launched by the Soviet Union in 1975 and used to conduct experiments on astronomy and physics. India continued developing satellites, mainly for Earth observation and communication, and by the 1980s and 1990s, had developed its own launch capacity. The development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in the 1990s allowed India to place some of its satellites into orbit. 

One of its most significant recent achievements has been the deployment of a series of remote sensing satellites between 2013 and 2016, forming the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) System, which provides India with an alternative to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). These satellites, which form the largest constellation of their kind, have proven crucial in fisheries management, telemedicine, mineral exploration, disaster management, and urban planning.   This system has bolstered India's autonomous navigation capabilities, providing precise positioning services over India and up to 1,500 km from its borders. In June 2023, India launched the first of five second-generation satellites, creating NavIC 2.0, which will upgrade the current suite of aging satellites and  improve surveillance and communication.

Lunar and Interplanetary missions  

In the same year, India’s successful Mars orbiter mission, Mangalyaan, marked a historic milestone, as it made India the first Asian nation to reach Mars’ orbit and the fourth space agency globally to do so, behind Russia, the U.S. and the EU. The mission demonstrated ISRO's technical competence and cost-effectiveness, garnering international recognition. Mangalyaan was estimated to cost about C$98 million, while the U.S.  NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter , launched the same year, was estimated at almost ten times that cost, at C$890 million.   

Crewed spaceflight

The planned crewed mission, Gaganyaan, highlights India's ambitious plan to send astronauts into Earth’s orbit. Scheduled by 2025, the Gaganyaan mission, if successful, will assist India in meeting its target of a crewed mission to the moon by 2030. The mission holds immense significance for India's space ambitions and would again highlight its technological capabilities. A substantial portion of India’s national space budget is directed towards the Ganganyaan mission  as well as the continued development of the country’s indigenous launch vehicle capabilities. By achieving these milestones, India will join an exclusive club of countries—the U.S., Russia, and China—that have conducted crewed space missions. This could significantly elevate India's standing on the global stage, especially in the context of international space co-operation and competition. In the broader strategic context, Gaganyaan could enhance India's geopolitical clout, as space exploration increasingly intersects with national security, economic interests, and international diplomacy. The mission aligns with India's long-term vision of establishing a robust presence in space, potentially supporting future lunar exploration, asteroid mining, and deep-space missions.

India’s National Space Strategy 

India’s  2023 National Space Strategy focuses on five areas: the encouragement of research and development to support its space program; the provision of public goods and services via the use of space technologies for national priorities; the creation of a regulatory framework to encourage non-state actors through IN-SPACe; the promotion of space-related education and innovation; and the use of space to increase awareness of space activities. The inclusion of its commercial industry is a key component of the strategy.

India has also been actively working on establishing a comprehensive legal framework to regulate and promote space activities within the country. The  Space Activities Bill  is a significant legislative initiative aimed at governing both governmental and private sector activities in space. Its primary objectives are to regulate space activities, encourage private sector participation, ensure compliance with international law, and set the standards for liability and safety for orbital objects.

IN-SPACe , an autonomous body established in 2020 under the DoS, likewise has been mandated to promote the growth of the commercial space sector. It has streamlined licensing processes for all space activities, facilitated access to ISRO’s space launch sites to encourage private satellite launches, and developed a supportive ecosystem to support the industry through incubation centres and research facilities.

To support its space strategy, India has  doubled its space budget over the past decade to C$2 billion, balancing the development of a self-reliant domestic space industry with the expansion of its diplomatic ties. Its  2024 budget, which increases its allocation to the Department of Space by  four per cent from the previous year, reflects a strong commitment to advancing its outer space ambitions, allocating significant resources to bolster its space program and foster innovation in the sector. 

A booming commercial space sector 

India constitutes two-to-three per cent of the global space economy and its share is projected to grow by  10 per cent by 2030, mainly through increasing demand for its spaceport launch sites and satellite services such as Earth observation and disaster management. In 2023, launching satellites for Europe and the U.S. alone generated  C$664 million in revenue. Exploration for resources is yet another aspect of India’s space policy attracting private investment. In its  2023 Space Policy, India explicitly encouraged the country’s private entities to “engage in the commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource.”  The race to the moon, Mars, and beyond is one of technological prowess, and the ability to secure space resources, such as water and lunar regolith, is essential to fuel longer exploratory missions, such as to Mars.      

In recent years, there have been more private actors entering India’s space launch industry. India aims to quintuple its stake in the global launch market over the next decade. In 2022,  GIC, Singapore’s sovereign fund, invested about  C$69 million in Skyroot, an Indian space company that launched India’s  first commercial rocket that same year. The investment gave GIC almost a 25 per cent stake in the startup.  To further facilitate investments in its space sector, the Indian government approved in  February 2024 an amendment to its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat – a self-reliant India. The amendment would, among other things, further open up  India's space sector for foreign participation . 

Notable Space Companies in India: Skyroot Aerospace Dhruva Space Agnikul Cosmos Pixxel Bellatrix Aerospace

India’s national budget allows for the creation of a large venture capital fund to increase its space program spending and encourage private sector investment in space research and innovation.   The budget also supports other initiatives to encourage private-sector participation in the space industry, aligning with the government's vision of making India a global space power by 2030. This increased financial backing underscores India’s ambition not only to enhance its strategic capabilities in space but also to secure a prominent position in the burgeoning global space economy, capitalizing on its technological advancements and low-cost satellite launch services.

Alliances in space

In tandem with building up its self-reliance through its domestic space industry, India has been increasingly engaged in international space co-operation, fostering partnerships with other space agencies and research institutions. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the U.S. in June 2023, it was announced that India became the  27th Signatory to the non-binding Artemis Accords. 

43 countries are currently part of the Artemis Accords ; among them Canada, Japan, and the U.S. were founding members. The Accords are a U.S.-led coalition seeking to build a set of norms guiding the peaceful exploration of deep space, buttressed by the Outer Space Treaty. The number of signatories to the Accords has been growing steadily since 2020. India, alongside South Korea and Singapore, have since joined the Accords.

India, which signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 and ratified it in 1982, has signed all five United Nations  treaties on outer space, but has yet to ratify the Moon Agreement (India signed the Moon Agreement in 1982). It should be noted that India is the only one of the four countries that have landed on the moon to sign the Moon Agreement. 

The Moon Agreement seeks to expand on  Article II of the Outer Space Treaty’s provision on the appropriation of space resources, which states that “[o]uter space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of occupation, or by any other means.” There are 18 parties to the Moon Agreement, notable exceptions being China, Russia, and the U.S. By contrast, the Artemis Accords seeks to regulate state and commercial activities on the moon. The tension between the Moon Agreement and the Artemis Accords primarily stems from Section 10. 2 of the Accords, which states that “Signatories affirm that the extraction of space resources does not inherently constitute national appropriation under Article II of the Outer Space Treaty.” The Accords seek to create norms based on the U.S. and its Artemis partners’ interpretation of the Outer Space Treaty on the exploitation of space resources, including those found on the moon.   It remains to be seen whether India will continue as a signatory to the Moon Agreement, withdraw its signature, or, like Australia—another Artemis partner—ratify the treaty.

Aside from joining various multilateral initiatives, India has also deepened its bilateral ties on space, notably with the U.S., through joint workshops and the  India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue , an annual diplomatic summit held with the foreign and defence ministers of each state . In 2023, the  Joint Statement from the Dialogue acknowledged the various bilateral partnerships that have been developed, including the U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group that seeks to develop their commercial space sectors. Taking the U.S.-India bilateral relations further, Indian astronauts began training with NASA for a joint mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in August 2024. 

India also maintains close ties with Russia and collaborates with Russia on its space program. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Russia in July, both countries  pledged to forge closer ties in  space through their respective space agencies in areas including “human spaceflight programs, satellite navigation and planetary exploration.” 

India has also been striking partnerships on space with its neighbours in the region. In June, through a “future-oriented partnership,” it  pledged to collaborate with Bangladesh on space technology, which includes India building and launching a satellite for its neighbour. This  partnership , which includes maritime security, is part of India’s larger effort to counter China’s influence in the region through its  Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative , which aims to build the region’s maritime security.

India has also been expanding its engagements in space-related mini and multilateral forums. In May 2023, as part of the  Quadrilateral Security Dialogue  (QUAD) efforts on Space Situational Awareness (SSA), which seeks to track orbital objects, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the group’s other members – Australia, Japan, and the U.S. – affirming that they will not conduct anti-satellite tests (ASATs). 

India’s Geopolitical Considerations in Space

In recent years, India walked a fine line balancing its strategic partnership with the U.S. while also deepening ties with Moscow and maintaining its “strategic autonomy.” T he ongoing geopolitical rifts between the U.S. and the two major space powers – China and Russia – are serving to India’s advantage. In space, China, India, and Russia offer efficient yet low-cost technology. However, given the geopolitical tensions, the U.S. government is likely to work  even more closely with India on space military technology. India’s reach in space is argued by some to be partly driven by  China’s race to become a space superpower. 

ASATs are a major threat in space as they have the potential to create a colossal volume of orbital debris, posing a risk to other satellites as well as the International Space Station. In 2019, just four years prior to signing the QUAD’s MoU, India conducted its own ASAT, demonstrating its capability to destroy a satellite in orbit. ISRO’s test came just over a decade after China’s  2007 ASAT test, which produced about 3,000 fragments and at a higher altitude. India’s actions triggered  concern about the possibility of more space debris being generated from ASAT tests. The U.S. and Russia are the only other states that have successfully carried out such tests. The U.S., however, in 2022 declared a self-imposed ban. The  UNGA , in December 2022, encouraged states to do the same. However, China and Russia opposed the resolution, and India abstained from voting on it.   

A source of national pride

India has indigenously developed its space assets – from space launch facilities to rockets and satellites – and does so at a lower cost, making it a valuable actor in various aspects of space’s global supply chain. Under the stewardship of ISRO, India has showcased the country's state and private sector space capabilities. With a focus on self-reliance, cost-effective missions, and development benefits, India continues to push the boundaries of space technology and exploration. As interest in space resources grows, and given India’s success with its lunar missions, India is expected to play a pivotal role in  cislunar regulation – both in space situational awareness as well as traffic management. Its leadership in global space governance is not surprising as the country aggressively pursues national-level policies to drive its space industry – one that is quickly becoming a source of national pride. 

In the lead-up to the general elections held in the spring of 2024, space was emphasized by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as an area of technological prowess. The BJP’s  manifesto explicitly links the growth of the nation and the ambitions of its youth to space. It promises to position India as a “leading space power” through its various missions, have an increasing role in the global space economy, and establish a space forum to assist the Global South in space technology. Space is increasingly integrated into the Modi government’s messaging that India is now a great power. 

In 1963, India transported parts of its first rocket to the launch site on a  bicycle ; 60 years later, it is set to launch its first probe to study Venus, 250 million km away from Earth. Its space program has transformed from a nascent initiative into a robust and multifaceted enterprise, reflecting the nation’s socio-economic goals, defence strategies, and geopolitical ambitions. ISRO’s achievements, including the successful landing on the lunar south pole and the deployment of advanced satellites, showcase India's technological prowess while underlining its commitment to self-reliance and innovation. Furthermore, India's participation in international collaborations and commercial space activities highlights its growing influence in the global space community.

The strategic importance of India's space endeavours is underscored by its positioning between major spacefaring nations like the U.S., China, and Russia. By fostering a thriving commercial space sector and building strategic alliances, India is cementing its role as a key player in shaping the future of space exploration and governance. As India continues to invest in crewed missions and deep space exploration, its space program stands poised to contribute not only to national pride but also to the broader global space economy.

• Edited by Charles Labrecque, Director of Research, and Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada Also in this series: For an overview of global and Asian space programs, please see the introduction to this series . Our earlier report focused on China , with future reports on Japan, South Korea, and Canada.

Hema Nadarajah

Dr. Hema Nadarajah is Program Manager, Southeast Asia, with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She has a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of British Columbia where she researched governance in the Arctic, climate change, and Outer Space. Dr. Nadarajah consults for WWF and formerly worked for the Government of Singapore on issues of international biodiversity conservation and climate change.

Hema Nadarajah's latest posts:

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The Planetary Society • Feb 13, 2024

The history and motivations behind India's growing space program

In 2023, India became the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon. The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission helped establish India as a capable space power and bolstered its growing space ambitions.

The history of India's space program is in many ways the inverse of the history of the U.S. and Russia’s programs. While these superpowers were racing to outdo each other with symbolic, high-profile achievements that culminated in the Apollo Moon landings, India focused on the practical and immediate benefits of space.

That has recently started to change. Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-3 and a desire to compete with China, India has announced ambitious human spaceflight plans that include space stations and a Moon landing.

Gurbir Singh joined us on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition on Jan. 5, 2024 to talk about the history and motivations behind India’s space program. Singh is the author of The Indian Space Programme: India's Incredible Journey from the Third World towards the First.

The original transcript has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Casey Dreier: Gurbir Singh, thank you so much for joining us on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition this month. I'm happy you're here.

Gurbir Singh: Well, thanks very much for reaching out. I'm really delighted to be here.

Casey Dreier: This is a big topic, so we might as well start at the beginning. Why did India start a space program in 1963?

Gurbir Singh: I use the launch of the very first rocket from Indian soil as a marker for the start of the program. That was a suborbital rocket launched from southern India. The payload was a small sodium capsule, which diffused at an altitude of about 150 kilometers. Watching how that payload dispersed was the experiment. That started what we today call the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO.

At that point India had been independent [from the British] for about a decade and a half, and the space program was part of the nation-building activities that were taking place. At that time, there were post-World War II developments in England and most of Europe, such as televisions, telephones, and commercial air flights. These were really becoming available to just about everybody.

The space age had started with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961. The Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, really believed in science. He believed that the new nation of India, independent India, should be forged on what he called the scientific temper, the temperament of science. So he put science at the forefront, and that's really why space was almost inevitable.

Casey Dreier: What's interesting to me is that India didn’t create this as a Cold War competition. It wasn’t throwing its hat in to compete directly, or to establish itself as a regional power. There were internal and domestic reasons that it wanted to establish a space capability. Is that an accurate way to think of this?

Gurbir Singh: There is a very long tradition of science in Indian history. By the time India became independent, there were many successful Indian scientists of international repute, such as Vikram Sarabhai, who's considered as the father of the Indian space program. They were bright, gifted, and came from very successful industrial families. They had a lot of cash, and they also had contacts in high society. They knew the prime minister. So they were moving in the right circles. And I think that synergy helped to kickstart India in the direction it went.

Casey Dreier: You write that, unlike the space programs being established at the time in the U.S. and Soviet Union, India’s program from the outset was wholly non-military and built to meet the social needs of its huge population. It was really almost inwardly directed as a modernizing force rather than a demonstration of technological competition or global hegemony.

Gurbir Singh: Having lived under suppression, under the control of another nation, was seen as a national humiliation. India did not want to return to that. There was a desire for self-sufficiency rather than some sort of hegemony or sense of superiority over other countries. India is probably the only country with a space program which had entirely non-military foundations, although since then, it has grown to include military aspects.

Casey Dreier: For the first few decades, ISRO focused on servicing the Indian population. But then, in the 1990s, there’s a proposal to send the Chandrayaan-1 scientific mission to the Moon. What caused this new era of exploration to develop within ISRO?

Gurbir Singh: The Moon mission and many other ISRO space programs have been influenced by similar programs in China. In 2003, China had its first human spaceflight success. In 2007, they sent a spacecraft to the Moon. They have built their own space stations. So India has been following in China’s footsteps, just like what happened in the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

If China had not gone to the Moon, India wouldn't have gone to the Moon. There's this wonderful quote in a book by the Soviet engineer Boris Chertok where he says that if there hadn't been a Gagarin, there wouldn’t have been an Armstrong.

Casey Dreier: You write that in 2013, India went to Mars with the Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan because both Japan and China had tried and failed. After Mangalyaan, China followed up with its own Tianwen mission and successfully landed. Are we seeing an increase in this tit-for-tat competition?

Gurbir Singh: India went to Mars in 2013 because there was a Chinese spacecraft on board the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft launched by Russia in 2011. That spacecraft never left Earth orbit and failed. India realized that there would be an opportunity to launch a small mission to Mars in 2013, and get there before China.

The spacecraft only had five instruments, which was very stark. A few years after the ISRO chairman had served his time and wrote a book, he admitted that the whole reason why India went to Mars was because China failed, and the whole intention was to be able to say that India got to Mars before China.

We saw this behavior during the Cold War with Sputnik, Gagarin, and Valentina Tereshkova. Every country's trying to wave a flag and say, “we did this.” There's nothing politicians like more than that.

Casey Dreier: Let's talk about the Modi government's relationship to space. Would you characterize that as a natural extension of the previous government's approach to ISRO and space, or is there something different in their approach and embrace of ISRO and its ambitions?

Gurbir Singh: India has always treated ISRO as the goose that lays the golden eggs. It's something all political parties can benefit from, because apart from the fact that it allows the incumbent prime minister to wave India's flag at every ISRO success, ISRO actually is one of the more successful and competent departments of the government. It's traditionally been supported throughout India's history, regardless of the government.

In prime minister Modi's case, during the Chandrayaan-3 touchdown, he was in a live stream split screen. You could see the lander coming into land, and Modi was there waving a small Indian flag. Immediately after the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, chairman Somanath got onto the pedestal and said, "India is on the Moon." And then he handed the microphone to the prime minister. I hadn't appreciated what an opportunity he would have to address an international audience. He made a 10-minute speech and said all the things that any politician would say.

Casey Dreier: You wrote in your 2017 book that the Modi government is a dynamic government with a nationalist and aggressive economic agenda, and it’s been positioning itself to use the Indian space program as an instrument for regional influence. Has that played out in the way that you thought it would?

Gurbir Singh: The desire for India to be a regional superpower hasn't quite worked out, mainly because India hoped to capture the launch market for nearby countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. But the growth in the international commercial space sector has meant that it's actually quite practical and cost-effective for these countries not to go to the nearest provider, India.

India’s cadence of launches is still very low. Its highest launch rate to Earth orbit or beyond has been seven launches in a year. This year alone, China has already achieved 47, and the U.S. more than 100. I think this has been driving the political changes that's opened up the commercial space sector in India.

The main thing that's been preoccupying ISRO is the Gaganyaan program. India has been developing a launch abort system, parachutes, and capsule recovery techniques. The recent signing of the Artemis Accords and the agreement to have an Indian astronaut go to the International Space Station with NASA will help accelerate the Gaganyaan program. There will be various deals of technology transfer and systems components being sold to India as a result of the collaborative arrangements that are now in place.

Casey Dreier: If the U.S. is increasingly seeing China as a competitive nation in space, then it starts to become a U.S. interest to support India as a backstop against regional influence from China.

Gurbir Singh: That's spot on, and really the reason why India signed the Artemis Accords.

The Artemis Accords would not have been as significant or profound if the International Lunar Research Station did not exist. The International Lunar Research Station is essentially an organization that China and Russia established, but now really China's running with it. The U.S. offered India a really good deal because they didn't want India to go to the International Lunar Research Station.

I think the main reason why India signed is because as part of this agreement, your president offered the Indian prime minister to come speak to a joint assembly of Congress. Any prime minister, especially one who has an election coming up next year, is not going to let that go. He had, I think, a four-day state visit to the U.S. and it's that package deal that made India sign the Artemis Accords.

Casey Dreier: In the past few years, ISRO has opened up to commercial space flight, started a serious effort for human spaceflight, announced an Indian space station, and is aiming for the Moon by 2040. This strikes me as a profound transformation of the role ISRO is going to play in Indian geopolitics.

It seems like the organization has a huge amount of capability to do things, but it's also struggling with capacity. Does that strike you as the biggest challenge facing ISRO and the Indian space community?

Gurbir Singh: I think a lack of capacity has been something that many previous ISRO chairs have identified, and that’s been the motivating factor for opening up the private space sector.

As a result of new space policies, about 200 startup space companies are now operating in India. I think this is where the future of Indian space activities lies: with ISRO helping startups and being supported by startups.

Casey Dreier: I saw that ISRO is facing a budget cut from the Modi government despite all these new ambitions being proposed. What does that tell you about the political commitment to the Indian space program?

Gurbir Singh: Generally, over the last decade or so, ISRO's budget has been increasing. It's at about one-and-a-quarter to one-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars annually. The Gaganyaan program itself, just as a standalone, multi-year program, has been awarded about one billion U.S. dollars. And there was some unspent budget from 2020 and 2021, when not much happened. The Indian economy is doing really well relative to many other Western countries. Economic growth this coming year should lead to a budget increase in the next year.

Casey Dreier: Gurbir Singh is the author of The Indian Space Programme, a book that I really enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone fascinated by this topic. Gurbir, how can people find you online?

Gurbir Singh: The web address for me is gurbir.co.uk , and if anybody's interested in my podcast, I do that on astrotalkuk.org .

Casey Dreier: Thank you so much for being here this month. I hope to have you back in the future.

Gurbir Singh: Great talking to you.

Listen to the full interview on Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition .

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